Careful thought went into the menu for this outdoor wedding. We asked some friends of ours to head up the whole food situation in exchange for a favor we did for them - you know. . . good ol' bartering. I definitely think we got the better half of the deal - but don't tell them that. Along with this couple, we had a number of other friends who gave up their Saturday (and Friday night) to make this day special for our kids. They were so efficient and professional that many guests asked who our catering company was - I'm serious. . . they were that good!

We put our heads together and created a menu that my little kitchen would be able to handle, that the guests would enjoy, and that would represent the different cultures that were being joined with the marriage of two lovely young people.

Here's what we came up with:

After the ceremony, while pictures were being taken, the guests gathered around a table filled with fruit, cheese and crackers, hummus, and yummy Italian bread sticks.

After the first dance and the blessing, we dug into:

Kielbasa-kabobs (to represent the German side of the family)

Shrimp with cocktail sauce (because what's a reception without shrimp?)

Croissant sandwiches with Black Forest Ham ( again, German)

Filipino meatloaf (to represent the Filipino side of the family)

Filipino Empanadas (provided by the groom's mother)

Veggie tray with dip

Caprese kabobs (no, we're not Italian, but we love us some Caprese salad)

Lumpia (double yum- a wedding gift to the couple that we all got to enjoy)

Pansit (provided by the groom's mother)

To finish up:

Wedding cake (spice cake with creamy frosting)

Pies of all sorts (lovingly prepared by family and friends)

For beverages we had:

Sweet Tea (hello - we live in the South)

Apple Cider Punch (equal parts apple cider and ginger ale)

Coffee ( regular and decaf)

Ice water

Here's what my little kitchen usually looks like:

Here's what it looked like the day of the wedding - minus 3 other people who were putting out food. Notice we added an extra table in the kitchen and we also had the dining room table and a table on the back porch as a staging area for dishes, food, and serving pieces.

Here is the drink station. The large bin in the left side of the photo was our ice bucket. A super large cooler full of ice was hiding behind the table, ready to stock the ice bucket. Notice the table to the far right. It's holding white coffee mugs we collected for months from thrift stores. Many of the cups match my daughter's dishes (Pfaltzgraff's Heritage pattern) so she has plenty of cups to entertain with. I would have loved to have used all white, thrifted dishes, but our guest list simply got too big to do that.

This is obviously the plate of a growing young man - humm - maybe my 19 year old son. So, you can see, there was plenty of food to go around. We also sent some home with our friends and we've been eating the remainder for days now. I even have some in the freezer. Like my friend Chris, says "better to have too much than not enough".

Here's a view from above (thanks Sylvia for the great pics - I'm so glad you thought to photograph everything!)

I'd say a grand time was had by all. Anyone care for a leftover kielbasa kabob?